Obituaries
Charles H Haden
April 16, 1937 - March 20, 2004
Charles Harold Haden II
(April 16, 1937 â March 20, 2004)
United States federal judge
Charleston, West Virginia
Charles H. Haden II, the federal judge who drew national attention in 1999 to the leveling of Appalachian mountaintops for their coal, died Saturday at his home in Morgantown, W.Va. He was 66.
His death was announced by the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, but no cause was given. Appointed by President Gerald R. Ford in 1975, he served as the districts chief judge until two years ago.
Judge Haden sided with environmentalists who challenged the strip~mining practice of dynamiting away mountaintops as a shortcut to seams of low~sulfur coal. The technique dumps what is known as valley~fills, at times leaving streams and hollows buried under hundreds of feet of debris for miles around.
The plaintiffs brought their case under the Federal Clean Water Act, and Judge Haden, sitting in Charleston, agreed in a strongly worded opinion that the technique violated environmental standards. His ruling was overturned on appeal.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., found in 2001 that federal courts had no jurisdiction in the case. But avoiding a decision on the substance of the case, it left the door open for state litigation.
Judge Haden issued a similar ruling in May 2002, involving the Clean Water Act and the issuance by the Army Corps of Engineers of fill permits for mountaintop removals. He was overruled again by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Still, the matter he opened for judicial review remains a battleground. In January, the Bush administration moved to revamp the statute that the environmentalists used for the litigation. In West Virginia, state authorities and the Office of Surface Mining are now conducting hearings on regulations concerning the practice.
Charles Harold Haden was born in Morgantown and never moved from there. He graduated with a degree in business administration from the West Virginia University College of Commerce in 1958 and received a J.D. degree at the universitys College of Law in 1961.
He was in private practice with his father at Haden & Haden in Morgantown until 1969. He also taught law at his alma mater.
He was a member of the State Legislature in the 1960s, and was the state tax commissioner from 1969 to 1972, when he was appointed a justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. He was elected to that seat later that year and became its chief justice in 1975 just before President Ford nominated him for Federal District Court.
He was chief judge of the district court from 1982 to 2002.
His peers elected him to represent the Fourth Circuits district judges in the United States Judicial Conference, which oversees administration of the federal court system. He was named to the executive committee in 1999, and served as its chairman from 2000 to 2002.
Judge Haden is survived by his wife of 46 years, Priscilla Ann Miller Haden; two sons, Charles H. III and Timothy M.; a daughter, Amy Haden Sorrells; two brothers, Robert E. and Thomas; and 10 grandchildren.
doctor
physician
surgeon
thomas a. parmalee
funeral service insider
american funeral director
special report
thomas parmalee
henry
parmalee
thomas
vinson
west
williamson
virginia
district
columbia
washington, dc
craig
spence
george
bush
whitehouse
barney frank
henry vinson
thomas a. parmalee henry vinson
funeral service insider special report
american funeral director henry vinson
henry vinson funeral
funeral henry vinson
doctor
physician
surgeon
thomas a. parmalee
funeral service insider
american funeral director
special report
thomas parmalee
henry
parmalee
thomas
vinson
west
williamson
virginia
district
columbia
washington, dc
craig
spence
george
bush
whitehouse
barney frank
henry vinson
thomas a. parmalee henry vinson
funeral service insider special report
american funeral director henry vinson
henry vinson funeral
funeral henry vinson